My husband and I always knew we would eventually want kids but were in no real rush but when we found ourselves expecting our first baby, we were thrilled and felt grateful. When we found out the baby was going to be a girl, we decided to name her Noor, which means light. I had always been obsessed with lighthouses and my husband even proposed to me at one, so we knew it was the perfect name for our daughter.

My entire pregnancy I was told I was healthy and my baby girl was healthy. I never had any symptoms other than swelling which was always deemed as a normal side effect of pregnancy. On January 22,2024 at 40 weeks and 2 days I went into labor. During active labor the doctors discovered my platelets had dropped so low. I was told I should have at least 150 and I had 63. They did a transfusion but every time I had contractions, my baby's heart rate would drop. They rushed me into an emergency c section but my daughter was born without a heart beat. They tried CPR but too much damage had been done to her organs. She died the next day.

I was later told I had atypical pre eclampsia/HELLP syndrome where I displayed no "real" and "serious signs" so they never suspected anything. Meanwhile my whole 3rd trimester my platelets were dropping and my daughter was struggling but no one ever knew.

We will grieve our daughter for the rest of our lives. But I want to always emphasize to every expecting mother how important it is to demand blood work throughout your entire pregnancy whether you are healthy or high risk.